03/19/2010

AA Gill Thinks I'm a Fool (he might be right)

While drinking my Monday morning coffee in Bangkok, I came
across this article by AA Gill, The Times acerbic restaurant
critic. It was called ‘The golden rules for a perfect restaurant.’ Just the
sort of thing I should start my week with, I thought.

If Gill had written that headline – or me for
that matter – it would have been called something different. Perhaps ‘You will
never realise your dream, deluded fool!’ or perhaps, ‘AA Gill really hates
when people tell him he should open a restaurant, because doing that is quite
clearly insane.’ This was actually a very bad way to start my week.

I’ve worked in restaurants, reviewed
restaurants for a living, and filed features on all sorts of restaurant-related business. I agree with much of what Gill says in his piece, but as my wife
wisely tells me, ‘sometimes, it’s the way that you say it.' I’d like to add
this: ‘Sometimes, it’s what you leave out.’

And what his piece leaves out, and what so
many food industry professionals don’t readily admit when they’re explaining
the woes of restaurant life, is that hospitality is infectious. Serving great
food and drinks gets in your blood, it occupies your mind, and it might just
supplant good sense. But it isvery often about passion, not just about
building a well-oiled factory, as Gill suggests. (Oh, and hard work, location,
marketing and skill don’t factor in much, either, according to the article).

But for all those failed caterers and foolish
concepts that form the backbone of Gill's brittle logic, there are a heck of a lot of successful restaurant operators too. People
that love seeking out great ingredients, conceptualizing menus, leading a team of
cooks and servers, walking through a crowded dining room, head high. People that wouldn't be caught dead behind a desk, writing cynical restaurant criticism.

A restaurant is a business, but not one born
out of good business sense or craven profit margins. Like it or not, many restaurants are born of something like love, and that does occasionally
translate into success. That "elusive and capricious alchemy" which all restaurateurs strive for.

And twenty percent of them find that in three years time,
apparently -- if you’d like to reduce all this to a jumble of numbers, Mister Gill.

The local restaurants in Cambridge are using social media to promote their business, with a special emphasis on Facebook and Twitter. As part of the hands-on workshop, participants will use their laptops to create their own Facebook pages and learn how to tweet. In addition, Pixability, Inc. of Cambridge will bring flip-cameras and show participants how to create their own videos to use as part of their social media mix. And Christos Eliopoulos of Cambridge-based Mobilaurus, will demonstrate the newest smartphone application which allows restaurant customers to place their orders and pre-pay takeout orders directly from their smartphones.

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